I'm 83 years old. If that doesn't turn off 90% of you, thanks for hanging in there. This coming spring I'll be riding a 400 to 500 tour somewhere in Europe -- probably France. As background info, I have an active history. Five running marathons (last one fifteen years ago) a long bike tour ten years ago (Blue Ridge Parkway in USA), and have done three long distance walks in the last few years (200 miles, 133 miles, and 70 miles).

My question goes to bike set-up. (I'll be renting a bike and want to get a reasonable fit before leaving the rental shop). On my only tour I vividly recall neck pain in the last few hundred miles. In retrospect it seems reasonable that I could have avoided (or at least lessened) that with higher bars and a more upright posture. At the time I didn't have enough common sense to make that change. (Oh, by-the-way, someone has suggested the rather obvious move of removing the visor from my helmet! Why didn't I think of that?)

So...does the group have any guidance? All suggestions appreciated.

John

Hi John,
I think you have answered your own question with the higher bars comment, I like a very upright riding position and can on occasions still do 100 miles in a day on a loaded bike at 62 years of age without any neck, shoulders or back pain.

You could ride a recumbent, it'd be even more comfortable. They also come in trike form if so desired. Electrified even. Pick based on your fitness level.

Not certain what a visor has to do with neck pain, personally I like mine to keep the sun a little more out of my eyes, offer that touch of shade that helps the glasses work better, maybe make sure the fit on the helmet is correct as the visors typically don't sit lower than the rim of the helmet and shouldn't require extra strain. More upright will be the way to go, not certain how much a rental shop will do that, too much and cables start having to be replaced. But I would assume a rental shop is also going to be using gravel/adventure bikes more than pure road bikes these days, they're designed to be more comfortable than a race bike and closer to a touring bike but still fairly quick and light. And you also don't want to go too upright, or it puts more pressure on the butt which can slow you down even more.

Setup whatever bike you intended to train on as the position that works best for you. Setup so you can do multiple days of whatever distance you intend to ride. Any particular reason you are not bringing a bike that you use at home ?. If not shipping a bike (which is what most people do) I would measure mid crank to top of seat. middle of seat to middle of stem, height of h-bar off ground, etc.... and replicate those measurements on whatever bike you are renting or send that data to whomever is renting the bike so they can set it up. Bring the pedals, shoes and saddle from the training bike.

I think the visor hint had to do with raising the head more to see the same field of view. Anyway, thanks, everyone, for the inputs. I'm comfortable, now, with how to set up the rental -- especially the concept of replicating my home bike by making critical measurements.

A bad day touring beats a good day workin'!

Do you do neck exercises and stretches on a regular basis? I think just a few minutes a day pre-tour might help so your neck muscles don’t get shocked from an unusual strain.

Maybe even do the exercises a few times a day on the tour to loosen them up.

Continental Europe, a lot of the touring bikes have upright bars, not drop bars. That might solve your neck issues. But do not sit too upright, that puts more weight on your bum and you will feel the bumps much more. You want to have some forward lean.

I like the visor on mine, when the sun is low in early morning or late evening, it is easier for me to keep the sun out of my eyes. And my mirror is attached to my visor. And the visor lessens the amount of rain on my glasses when my rain cover is over the visor.



Bring your visor, if you want to remove later, you can.

I did two European guided bike trips, bike was provided along with lodging and most meals. We only had to carry our lunch, water, and maybe rain gear. We had the option to bring our own water bottles, saddle and our own pedals if we wanted to. I brought all of that, thus my bum was used to the saddle and my shoe cleats fit my pedals just fine. The trip operator did not provide water bottles, and the grocery store water bottles do not fit cages well. On one of those trips, I knew that the bike would have a rack, I brought one pannier from home for the stuff I might want during the ride, it came in really handy. The other trip, no rack was on the bike, I brought an extra large saddle bag that hung from the saddle rails that could carry that stuff. I also carried a pump from home and an inner tube which was not needed, but was nice to have just in case. The tour operator would fix a flat if I had one, but that could have been a long wait if I had a flat.

Good for you! Maybe there is hope for me.
If you can find out ahead of time what you will be renting, and then find the same bike here, you could dial in your fit and then set up the rental to match.
If I were in your situation, I would consider buying a bike there and then reselling, or even abandoning it. Just don't tell the kids you're squandering their inheritance.

You need to do whatever works for you. Don't overlook things like the details of your posture on the bike though.

For me the upright position isn't necessary, but I find it very important that I have a relaxed upper body. That means no hunched shoulders, no tight grip on the bars and so on. I have fingers loosely draped over the bars, elbows bent, shoulders relaxed and so on. Makes a huge difference.

You may find that happens more automatically with your upright posture. Then again you may find you don't need to go more upright if you take care to maintain a loose relaxed upper body.

I am 11 years your junior, but I haven't had to make any adjustments to my riding position. I have always needed to stay relaxed and maintan a relaxed posture.

Just something to consider.

71, hope to make 83. DW and I still tour. Camping is now behind us and kids inheritance pays for lodging. (Thanks kids). During our Europe tours a few years ago, the trains were our friend in hilly areas. Do not hesitate to make them part of your travel plans. Also, distance/rest days can be altered since the boss does not care when you return to work. Trains can make this work too.

Definitely have the most comfortable set up. Perhaps consider an e-bike. And know that a 50 mile bike ride where you still feel ok at the end is better than 500 miles that is followed by an uncomfortable recovery. You give me inspiration. Thanks for posting.

Welcome, John. Inspiring story! Yeah, I've had a similar issue with helmet brims - if you are leaning forward you need to crane your neck backward a little more in order to see under the brim. A more upright seating position should help. What's you bike at home like? Do you like it? If you are renting a bike, you might want to bring at least your seat with you to make sure that you don't get a seat on the rental bike that doesn't agree with you. If you can, you might want to set up your home bike to your comfort and then find a rental bike with similar reach and stack measurements.

Best of luck.

Unless doing very short days of really easy riding, I'd really like to be on my own bike or one that is set up very close to what I am used to. If ignoring this, I'd at least plan on taking the first days pretty easy. One of my companions on a coast to coast US tour started out on a new to her bike. It worked out fine, but that was at least in part because we took it easy for both mileage and pace for the first ten days to two weeks.

Or at least avoid too big of a mismatch.

Maybe a bit extreme, but if shipping is super expensive or inconvenient...

The ideal answer if possible.

Yes.

Or as Peter Langford might say, 'a young guy on a short ride'.

90 y.o. sets off on LEJoG

I’ll be 72 next week and my mantra now is “Another day above the ground. Another day I can still ride drop bars. Another day I don’t need an e-bike.”

I still really like the choices drop bars give me but I’ve had neck trouble too. Flexibility is the key for me. Regular neck rolls and other upper body stretches help ALOT. Help with cycling, driving (head checks out the side windows), yard work, climbing trees, etc. And I, too, generally have a visor cap to block sun glare on my glasses. In the drops I can still look up to see well down the road/trail. In the drops I can still turn well left or right to see behind me. My back does not hurt, even with a damage disc I’ve had for 60 years.

With winter now here, regular indoor stretching and strength work and indoor cycling is part of life. Neck rolls and other stretches can be done any other time too: on the stationary trainer, on the rollers, even watching TV, brushing teeth, waiting in line (creeps people out), while cycling in the drops. Progress is slow but worth the effort.

What's you bike at home like?

BRUCE GORDON, 2002. TOUR FRAME, DROP BAR.

Do you like it?

I'M IN LOVE.

It depends on the position on the bike. It was an issue with me on my touring bike because I had to hold my head up higher to see. Without the visor I could see well without holding my head so high, so it was more comfortable without the visor. It depends on your position on the bike, your range of motion, and the shape and size of the visor.

Then you have something to measure from for your three contact points, pedals, saddle and handlebars. Crank arm length is also worth noting, as you might not want to have a longer crank length if your knees are not used to that. Handlebar width is also worth noting, you might not want a narrower setup if you are carrying much of a load on the bike.

As I noted above, in continental Europe a lot of touring bikes have flat bars, thus when renting you might have to look harder to find drop bars. But, if you only rarely or never use the drops, you could certainly switch to flat bars for the trip.

And I noted above when I did a couple trips to Europe where the bikes were supplied, I brought my own pedals, water bottles and saddle. Pedals so that I knew that my shoe cleats would work well with the pedals.

And, just in case the rental does not include a spare tube, appropriate spares, tools and pump would be something that I would bring.

If someone doesn't ride a recumbent at home, much less a recumbent trike, it seems to me to be an extremely bad idea to suddenly switch to a recumbent for a tour in a foreign country.

I use the POC mountain bike helmets. First the Trabec. My current one is another also with a short name beginning with "T". Both have visors that are mounted on a pivot or slide so you can vary the location. I ride drop bars and have my visor a little more than half way up. Visor edge lines up with my glasses top.

In poor weather I use one of those same Segoi helmet covers. The POC MTB helmets are full enough in back that all the excess fabric of the cover is taken up and the fit at the visor is very clean. I do have to hold the cover down in back with a piece of good tape. Pick your tape right and the fit and look is stylish.

Have you tried any recent touring near home, on your bike that you love? That might be a good place to start. Just to check in that touring will be an enjoyable activity, before going all the way to Europe. You can take off several layers of complications by trying a stateside/homeside tour first.

Sir, I honestly wish I would be able to ask the same question one day at 83. That's the spirit and determination. Good luck on your tour. Hopefully it will be amazing.

Yes, Kelly. I've done 30 to 40 mile runs over the last few months. The last REAL tour was the Blue Ridge Parkway in USA -- a 469 (755 km) mile ride through some serious mountains (average elevation gain over the 12 riding days was 1600 meters). But...that was ten years ago. I fully realize that I'll have to do lots of cranking when the weather moderates. My Europe tour will start in late May.